The лRoots╗ magazine #1 opens with
two addresses to readers. The letter from the editors tells about the
back-ground of the idea of city Jewish lecture clubs, their place in the life
of modern Jewish city communities, the goals of the new magazine and its
contents.

The author of the other address, Mr. Yitzchak Averbuch, who
represented the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in the region of
Central Russia in 1994, emphasizes the important role played by the lecture clubs
in the implementation of the лHaskala laТam Ч Enlightenment for the People╗
program in the framework of which the clubs are themselves becoming national
and cultural centers of their communities. Y. Averbuch defines the future
readership of the magazine: all those who are not indifferent to Jewish life in
city communities.

The section УArticles.
ResearchesФа contains papers of
authors from Volgograd, Saratov and Nizhny Novgorod. In his article лJews in
World Culture╗ Prof. Solomon Krapivensky deals with the contribution of the
Jews to the worldТs culture and civilization. Two different approaches to the
problem are analyzed: the personified and the essential one. Jewish culture is
considered as a specific activity in a context of interaction with other cultures.
The author gives his explanation to the лriddle╗ of the intellect of GodТs
chosen people and its spiritual contribution to the world history. According to
Krapivensky, the peculiar character of the Western civilization lies in the
belief in social progress, the cult of scientific rational cognition, the
acknowledgment of the active role of the human being Ч and all these components
have Judaism as their source. The closing part of KrapivenskyТs essay is
devoted to Jewish influence on world art (exemplified by Western and Russian
painting).

The article лPolicy of Discrimination towards Jews in Tsarist
Russia╗ is based upon rich documentary material from some archives of the
Russian Empire of the XVIII to XX centuries. Prof. Valery Ustinov
displays in detail all the aspects of the discrimination using some works of
Russian and Jewish historians as well.

Assistant Prof. Irene Gutkina analyzes a highly difficult and
contradictory subject Ч to what extent does the cultural assimilation of Jews
in the Russian civilization correspond to their mentality? She cites Mark
ZakharovТs and Aleksandr GelmanТs opinions and examines a real case of
religious assimilation. The second part of the article deals with the trend of
a return to Jewish roots (the 1980s and 1990s), which is defined as
re-assimilation. The causes of this process are explained in her article лProblem
of Assimilation and Re-assimilation of Russian Jewry╗.

Eugeny GarberТs, a psychologist from
Saratov, theoretical research paper is entitled лJewish Psychology.
Scientological Substantiation of the Concept╗. For the first time in the
history of science the author makes an attempt to single out the psychological
components of Judaism. The article substantiates the possibility and the
expediency of different approaches to the study of Jewish psychology.

The section УThe History of
our DaysФ includes two reviews. In the first of them Mr. Yitzchak
Averbuch (лJoint╗) describes the basic activity guidelines of лJoint╗
in Central Russia and Volga Region. They include sending rabbis from Israel,
rendering assistance to family celebrations of the Bar-Mitzvah, Shabbat and
Passover, educational work (the Public University for Jewish Culture, Sunday
schools, kindergartens, various seminars), cultural activities (newspapers,
libraries, musical groups), establishing community centers and help in
restitution of Jewish property.

The magazine starts publishing a cycle of reviews лOn the
National Life of the Jewish Communities of Central Russia and Volga Region╗.
The first to appear is лJewish Organizations of Kazan╗ by Eugenia Davidova.
A brief historical excursion is followed byа
information about the Jewish organizations set up after 1989 and their
activists, a chronicle of the main cultural and organizational events of these
years and a history of the city synagogue.

лOur Genealogy╗. The authors of this
section base their accounts of the origins of Jewish communities, their
formation and development up to the present on the study of numerous documents
from local archives and the recollections of eye-witnesses: лJews in
Saratov╗ by Prof. Daniel Drankin, лOn the History of the Jewish
Community of Samara╗ by Natalya Bass, лEssay on the History of the
Jewish Community of Penza╗ by Prof. Vitaly Levin, лHistory of the Penza Synagogue╗
by Abraham Pekny.ааааааааа

The section лArchives╗ is
based upon authentic archive documents. The first issue of the magazine
publishes 15 unique documents concerning the history of the Jewish prayer-house
in Oryol (the publication by Boris Zilbert). The documents published include: a
brief essay on the life andа development
of the Jewish community in Oryol; a description of the ceremony of laying the
foundation stone of the synagogue (1909) and speeches made at the ceremony by
the chairman of the economic board, the public rabbi and other persons; a
financial account of the building of the synagogue; a report of the
parishionersТ auditing commission (1912). The section also contains the 1993
correspondence between the municipal authorities and the cityТs Jewish
community on restitution of the synagogue building requisitioned by the state
in the 1930s.

The section лChronicles╗ informs the readerа in detail about the activities of city
Jewish lecture clubs in Saratov, Samara, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Penza, Ivanovo,
Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Bryansk from December 1993 to June
1994. The data include the lecturersТ names, the topics of the lectures, some
interesting details of the club meetings and the number of participants. New
forms of Jewish education were worked out and realized in Saratov in June: the
лMishpaha╗ program (mini-clubs uniting several Jewish families for
co-celebration ofа traditional holidays
and discussions on family education) and the лWeekend╗ program (revival of
Jewish mentality through free communication of parents and children on
weekends).